Together for Hope Appalachia

Newsletter - August 2025

DONATE

PARTNER

TFH National Annual Meeting

TFH National Confirms Partnership with Marshall University & Coalfield Development Corporation to Host TFH Annual Meeting!

MORE INFORMATION & REGISTRATION

The 2025 TFH Annual Meeting will be held in partnership with Marshall University (a leader in rural development) and Coalfield Development, a groundbreaking organization addressing the social and economic challenges facing Appalachia in unique and effective ways. Coalfield has grown into a transformative force for empowering communities and rebuilding economies across the region. Various schools at Marshall University will be contributing, as will students providing services for the event, including recycling and local food preparation.

We're incredibly honored to share in hosting this event with two essential on-the-ground contributors to the Appalachian community! The meeting will be held on-site at Coalfield Development's West Edge Factory Facility in Huntington, West Virginia, on October 16th. and 17th. The venue, pictured below in 1930 when the factory was built, has been purchased and repurposed locally to provide community space and local jobs. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share this space with our partners. Coalfield Development will lead workshops as part of our programming and provide hands-on fun as we discuss rural community development.

Hotel Block Information:

DoubleTree by Hilton Huntington

1001 3rd Ave | Huntington, WV 25701

Booking code: CDT908

For additional information on alternative hotels, please reach out to our event coordinator,

Jamie Tice: jamie.tice@fora.travel

BOOK YOUR HOTEL

One Voice/One Cup

One Voice/One Cup Toolkit

Sebrena and Harold Tessendorf, TFH Senior Advisor on Housing and Social Enterprise, have been working with TFH Appalachia coalition member, Debra Davis with One Voice, on a critical organizational toolkit. Centered in West Virginia, the toolkit will help replicate One Voice's model throughout the state, and hopefully beyond. One Voice's mission is to help communities heal from substance and opioid abuse crises by combining on the job training and comprehensive, personalized, and family-centered recovery services in one revitalized community gathering space. The purpose of this toolkit is to document the many multi-faceted components of this mission so that it can serve as a toolkit for other communities impacted SUD and OUD epidemics. The toolkit is robust, and includes information around organizational implementation, community partnerships, financial policies, marketing strategies, employee relations, and much more. Debra, Sebrena, and Harold are set to wrap up work on this toolkit in late August.

To learn more, please contact us for the executive summary.

Keith at Work in Appalachia

A Gift Between Communities

Keith always enjoys visiting with Wayne Riley, director of the Laurel County African American Heritage Center Inc. This time for a conversation and to deliver a small gift.

A thoughtful gift connected two TFH Appalachia partners across state lines. M.O.C. Mullens Opportunity Center (RAIL), based in Mullens, West Virginia—a community deeply impacted by floods—received donations to support their recovery. In a neighborly gesture, RAIL shared some of those donated items, including new pajamas and Bombas socks, with the Laurel County African American Heritage Center in London, Kentucky, a community still recovering from a destructive tornado.

It’s one of many small (and large kindnesses) shared between neighbors during times of disaster.

Keith Attends KFTC Annual Meeting

Keith attended the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) Annual Meeting in Berea, Kentucky, July 26–27. The theme for this year’s gathering was “Growing the Resistance: Rooted in Vision, Joy, & Imagination.”

KFTC has a long history of grassroots activism and advocacy, bringing together people from across the state to work for justice, environmental sustainability, and a fair economy. The annual meeting offered workshops, strategy sessions, and opportunities for members to connect, share stories, and envision the future they want to build together.

Church of Christ Union

Keith worshipped with the Church of Christ, Union, in Berea, while attending the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Annual Meeting. Worship included this powerful prayer. Written by Betsy Whaley, who is also Director of Strategic Initiatives with the Mountain Association.

The Tears of Things

Keith has started reading The Tears of Things, by Richard Rohr:

"Those at the top tend to believe things are the way they are for good reason, but the poor know in their bones that things are not as they should be." (Rohr)

"I was no prophet and did not belong to any brotherhood of prophets," Amos told Amaziah the priest. "I am a mere shepherd and a dresser of fig trees. Yahweh took me and said, 'Go, prophesy to the people of Israel.'" (Amos 7:12-15)

Richard Rohr, The Tears of Things (p. 17)

TFH's asset-based community development approach means we believe in listening to those who "know in their bones."

Harold in Grundy County

Harold Visits BetterFi, Growing Roots, and Rē in Grundy County

Harold Tessendorf, Together for Hope's Housing and Social Enterprise Advisor, took advantage of being in Tennessee in July to visit with TFH social enterprise partners BetterFI, Growing Roots and Rē, resulting in an invaluable exchange of plans and ways to address the unique challenges that each of these organizations face.

Together for Hope Box

HopeBox Pre-orders!

The new Together for Hope Box will include options for products from three of our TFH Appalachia coalition members:

Appalachian Gold - Mama's Meat Sauce (barbeque sauce)
One Voice, One Cup - Coffee Beans
Y'all Sauce - Southern Sauces

photo from One Cup Facebook

photo from Appalachian Gold website

photo from Y'all Company Facebook page

The TFH Appalachia Coalition

The TFH Appalachia Coalition at Work

Rē: The Rēgenerative School is Working to Create a More Just, Peaceful, and Sustainable World

The mission of Rē: The Regenerative School is to catalyze transformative collaboration and learning to create a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Rē advances education, research and civic engagement activities. At Rē, the focus is on creating a people- and community-first organization, with a trauma-informed approach, a culture of community care and “life first” approach which leads with primarily regenerative practices. While Rē engages in external efforts, the community voices are the main drivers in deciding and collaborating with our organization to facilitate workshops and enact change.

Members of the Rē community have collaborated to actualize a wide stable of projects. For example, the RēMind Newsletter platforms new ideas and resources for people facilitating regenerative work, research, and activism. The Inner/Outer Landscape Fellowship Program supports progressive thinkers and teachers to dive deeper into their own work and develop new, more integrated initiatives. Rē supports educational tours in a variety of areas to bolster the development of experiential learning in rural communities via direct cross-cultural exchanges. At the community level, Rē has offered to develop a set of “train the trainer” Participatory Action Research workshops to address self-identified community issues.

Future of Rural, a significant project in its final stages of development, is a graduate-level program to equip practitioners and scholars with relevant information and responses to the unique challenges posed by rural areas: climate concerns, resource extraction, youth employment, geographic isolation, shifting agricultural landscapes, and rural food challenges. Currently open for surveying and feedback from our community and from others, the Future of Rural courses are expected to launch in 2026!

Regenerative development asks “How do we add back to the abundance and health of the planet and its inhabitants?”

Together in community Growing Roots, Rē and Highlander gather for a presentation on the Future of Rural program (Rē) and a volunteer values session (Growing Roots)

Learn more about Rē:

regenerativeschool.org

facebook.com/regenerativeschool

The Lend-A-Hand Center is Opening a Medical Clinic on the Grounds

The Lend-A-Hand Center, in Walker Kentucky, is renovating space on its grounds to house a new medical clinic. Once completed, a physician assistant will make regular visits and offer appointments.

This is welcome news for residents in an area where access to healthcare providers is limited—often requiring long drives over winding mountain roads to reach the nearest clinic or hospital. The new clinic will revive one of the vital services offered at Lend-A-Hand’s founding as a mission center. When the Center was established by Peggy Kemner, a nurse-midwife from Pennsylvania, and Irma Gall, a schoolteacher and farmer from Indiana, a medical and dental clinic was built, and Peggy provided much of the basic medical care for local residents.

Learn more about the history of Lend-A-Hand here:

lendahandcenter.wordpress.com/history

Return to Stinking Creek: A personal war on poverty - 2008 USA Documentary

To Lend A Hand (Lamp Unto My Feet CBS Special) - December 14, 1969